FORM 6-K
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
For the month of
February 2010 No. 2
TOWER SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
Ramat
Gavriel Industrial Park
P.O.
Box 619, Migdal Haemek, Israel 23105
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under
cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F
S Form
40-F £
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in
this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant
to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes £ No
S
On
February 02, 2010, the registrant announces that TowerJazz and Soitec Sign
Agreement to Offer Backside Illumination Platform for High-End Image
Sensors.
This Form
6-K is being incorporated by reference into all effective registration
statements filed by us under the Securities Act of 1933.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized.
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TOWER
SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.
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Date:
February 02, 2010
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By:
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/s/ Nati Somekh Gilboa
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Name:
Nati Somekh Gilboa
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Title:
Corporate Secretary
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TowerJazz and Soitec Sign Agreement to Offer Backside
Illumination Platform for High-End Image
Sensors
Collaboration
enables rapid ramp to turnkey solution for fabless CIS designers
targeting
industrial, medical and automotive applications
High-end
BSI image sensor market to reach $120M by 2013
MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel and BERNIN,
France, February 2, 2010 —TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader
and The Soitec Group (Euronext Paris), the world’s leading supplier of
silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and other engineered substrates for the
microelectronics industry, announced today that they have signed an agreement
that will enable a turn-key solution for high-end backside illuminated (BSI)
CMOS image sensors (CIS) for industrial, medical and automotive
applications.
“The
market for BSI CMOS image sensors replacing current Front Side Illumination
(FSI) technology is expected to reach $800M in 2013,” according to Jerome Baron,
principal analyst at Yole Developpement. “The BSI image sensor market will be
mainly driven by digital cameras and cell-phone applications, but high
performance imaging applications such as medical, industrial and automotive
vision sensors are also an important segment. We estimate the market for
high-end BSI image sensors to reach $120M in the same time frame.”
The
TowerJazz BSI CIS offering will leverage the foundry’s extensive expertise and
leadership in CIS technology and will integrate SOI substrates and Soitec’s new
Smart Stacking™ circuit layer transfer technology, customized for the TowerJazz
fabrication process. Soitec is the market leader in SOI wafers and
circuit stacking solutions and TowerJazz is well-known for its industry leading
pixel performance. This collaboration will enable a rapid ramp to a complete BSI
foundry solution that can be transparently utilized by TowerJazz
customers.
Backside
illumination is fast gaining traction in the image sensor market for its higher
resolution, smaller pixels that capture far more light, higher quantum
efficiency (QE), and improved performance. BSI allows 100% fill
factor of pixels maximizing photon collection without any shading of
metals. This provides very high light sensitivity in high-end
applications.
SOI
substrates, which Soitec manufactures using its patented Smart Cut™ process,
make BSI much more robust to manufacture in high volume. Soitec’s new
Smart Stacking technology enables chip manufacturers to leverage wafer-to-wafer
level stacking through low-stress bonding and high-precision thinning of
partially or fully processed circuits. It is particularly well suited
to achieving low cross-talk and better pixel quality in BSI CMOS image sensors
through access to the backside of the device.
“This is
a unique offering in the foundry area and we will be the first to offer such
technology to customers as a foundry service. Soitec’s SOI substrates and Smart
Stacking circuit transfer technology are an excellent complement to our
industry-leading CIS technology,” said Dr. Avi Strum, Vice President and General
Manager, TowerJazz Specialty Business Unit. “Our collaboration will result in
high-performance image sensors and will allow fabless designers to create new
generations of ultra-sensitive image sensors – which in turn will enable
exciting new applications for cinematography, DSLR cameras, space cameras, and
high-end medical cameras, among others.”
“This
partnership will be a great advantage for the fabless design community,” said
Dr. Bernard Aspar, Vice President and Managing Director of Soitec’s Tracit
Business Unit, which developed the Smart Stacking technology. “We
believe TowerJazz’s excellent CIS technology, combined with our best-in-class
SOI substrates and unique Smart Stacking manufacturing capabilities, will
provide a comprehensive BSI offering, enabling a turnkey solution for their CIS
customers.”
About
TowerJazz
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM,
TASE: TSEM), the global specialty foundry leader and its fully owned U.S.
subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor, operate collectively under the brand name
TowerJazz, manufacturing integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to
0.13-micron. TowerJazz provides industry leading design enablement tools to
allow complex designs to be achieved quickly and more accurately and offers a
broad range of customizable process technologies including SiGe, BiCMOS,
Mixed-Signal and RFCMOS, CMOS Image Sensor, Power Management (BCD), and
Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) as well as MEMS capabilities. To provide world-class
customer service, TowerJazz maintains two manufacturing facilities in Israel and
one in the U.S. with additional capacity available in China through
manufacturing partnerships. For more information, please visit www.towerjazz.com.
Safe
Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This
press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks
and uncertainties. Actual results may vary from those projected or implied
by such forward-looking statements. A complete discussion of risks and
uncertainties that may affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements
included in this press release or which may otherwise affect Tower and/or Jazz’s
business is included under the heading "Risk Factors" in Tower’s most recent
filings on Forms 20-F, F-3, F-4 and 6-K, as were filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Israel Securities Authority and Jazz’s
most recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, as were filed with the SEC,
respectively. Tower and Jazz do not intend to update, and expressly disclaim any
obligation to update, the information contained in this release.
About
the Soitec Group
The
Soitec Group is the world’s leading innovator and provider of the engineered
substrate solutions that serve as the foundation for today’s most advanced
microelectronic products. The group leverages its proprietary Smart Cut™
technology to engineer new substrate solutions, such as silicon-on-insulator
(SOI) wafers, which became the first high-volume application for this
proprietary technology. Since then, SOI has emerged as the material platform of
the future, enabling the production of higher performing, faster chips that
consume less power. Today, Soitec produces more than 80 percent of the world’s
SOI wafers. Headquartered in Bernin, France, with two high-volume fabs on-site,
Soitec has offices throughout the United States, Japan and Taiwan, and a new
production site in Singapore.
Three
other divisions, Picogiga International, Tracit Technologies and Concentrix
Solar, complete the Soitec Group. Picogiga delivers advanced substrates
solutions, including III-V epiwafers and gallium nitride (GaN) wafers, to the
compound material world for the manufacture of high-frequency electronics and
other optoelectronic devices. Tracit, on the other hand, provides thin-film
layer transfer technologies used to manufacture advanced substrates for power
ICs and Microsystems, as well as generic circuit transfer technology, Smart
Stacking for applications such as image sensors and 3D-integration. In December
2009, Soitec acquired 80% of Concentrix Solar, the leading provider of
concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar systems for the industrial production of
energy. With this acquisition, Soitec is entering the fast-growing solar
industry; capturing value through the system level. Shares of the Soitec Group
are listed on Euronext Paris. For more information, visit www.soitec.com.
Soitec,
Smart Cut, Smart Stacking and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I.TEC Silicon On
Insulator Technologies.
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For
TowerJazz:
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For
Soitec:
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Investor
Relations Contact
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Investors
Relations Contact
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Levi
Noit
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Olivier
Brice
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+972
4 604 7066
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+33
(0)4 76 92 93 80
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noit.levi@towerjazz.com
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olivier.brice@soitec.fr
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Company
Contact
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International
Media Contact
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Melinda
Jarrell
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Camille
Darnaud-Dufour
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+1
949 435 8181
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+33
(0)6 79 49 51 43
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melinda.jarrell@towerjazz.com
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camille.darnaud-dufour@soitec.com
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Media
Contact
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French
Media Contact
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Lauri
Julian
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Claire
Flin
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+1
949 715 3049
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H&B
Communication
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lauri.julian@towerjazz.com
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+33
(0)1 58 18 32 53
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c.flin@hbcommunication.fr
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